The Family Man
by ScandalousCastleAnatomy
Summary: President of the United States, Fitzgerald Grant, gets an eye opening opportunity to change one decision made as a high school senior and ends up in an unfamiliar house across the country, as a lawyer, with his ex-girlfriend and two kids. What could possibly go wrong?
1. The Beginning of Our End

"What time are your parents getting home?" I ask with as much innocence as I can muster.

"No." She shakes her head laughing. "Not tonight."

It is probably the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. She is so beautiful, the tendrils of her hair caressing her neck like I long to when I dream of her, her mouth opened slightly as she throws her head back with abandonment. She is free and happy and apparently a mind reader.

"I didn't say a word." I whisper softly in her ear as she runs her hands through my hair, pulling me to her body.

She pulls my face back, looking into my eyes.

"You have dirty written all over your face." She raises an eyebrow as she speaks. "We don't have time…"

She trails off searching for the clock in her room.

"I didn't ask." I say, deepening my voice.

I feel her shiver beneath me as I suck on the skin underneath her ear and snake my hands into the front of her jeans.

"Fitz…" Her scolding voice fades into a moan as I sweep my hand across her clit, making her legs fall open in surrender. "We can't."

I laugh at her will to stop me. She always does this, plays this game like she wants me to stop but I know she doesn't really want me to. Everything that I needed to know was in the bow in her back, the way she threw her head back in pleasure, the sweet smell of her sex dripping for me.

"Do you really want me to stop?" I ask, halting all of my movements.

She looks up from under me, eyes hazy, confused at my question.

"No. What are you doing? Keep going_…please_." She growls towards the end as I slip my fingers into her.

There's no point in stopping now. I pull her jeans all the way off of her body, leaving the lacy panties in place. There's nothing that turns me on more than Olivia writhing under me in nothing but a pair of underwear. Before I can remove anything else her hands are at my waist undoing my belt and dragging my pants down as far as she could get them before I kick them to the floor along with my boxers. If a girl removing your belt better than you can, with absolute skill, doesn't turn you on, then you're probably not into girls.

"Liv?" I whisper into her ear as my hands find their way back to her clit, standing up nice, thick, and wet for me.

She moans back in answer and pulls my face to hers for a sloppy kiss where she bites my lip and pulls at the thick curls that were previously perfect.

"Olivia?" I mutter against her neck, trying to create the perfect mark.

She's squirming now, pulling my member closer to her as she jerks me with both hands gently, teasing me.

"I'm ready…I promise." She groans breathlessly. "Please…I'm _so_ ready."

I look down at her wantonly rubbing me through her lips, taunting me with how wet and hot she is.

"Are you sure?" I question, mostly to test her patience.

She nods with her eyes half shut. One thing that always makes her regret telling me no the first time is when I make her wait for it, leaving her saturated in sexual tension. She doesn't tell me no very often anymore. I kind of miss our waiting game.

She's already taken initiative by pulling her panties to the side, leaving herself open to my advances. I place myself right at her entrance and she braces herself for me. As I begin to slowly slide into her, her hands come up to stop me. She looks me right in the eyes with her hands grasping both sides of my face.

"Tell me." She says with a slight smile gracing her features.

I laugh at her last minute request.

"Eh…." I say, donning a small smirk.

"Fitz." She scolds. "Tell me."

I shake my head at her, admittedly, playing with fire. She sits up and the small part of my head, that rested inside of the heaven that she provided, slips out. She closes her legs and raises her eyebrow at me.

"I'm not going to tell you again before I put my clothes back on." She chastises.

I kiss her softly, laying her body back and re-positioning us to where we were before, sliding myself back to my previous postition.

"Fitzgerald Grant…" She moans into my mouth. "Don't you dare."

And I know exactly what she wants so I brush the hair back from her face and caress her cheek with my other hand.

"Olivia Pope." Her smile is bright as I start off. "I love you. I love you more than all of the words in all of the books in the entire world."

She giggles, an incredibly feminine sound that always takes me off guard, taking my mouth into hers but her laugh is cut short by an almost feral growl as I push into her with force. Her eyes are glazed over after the first thrust and I love it.

"I love you. I love you. I love you." I admit, punctuating each phrase with a thrust. "I love you." I tell her one last time before losing myself in her.

I've never spoken truer words.

* * *

By the time her parents' car pulls into the garage I am fully dressed again and she is freshly showered, having washed the sweet smell of sex off of her.

"Fitz, what a nice surprise." Her mother speaks sarcastically.

She didn't have much patience for my family and their notoriety so that tended to trickle down to me. I definitely wasn't a first choice when it came to being Olivia's boyfriend and I knew the only reason she even tolerated me was because I kept her daughter so obviously happy.

"His car is in the driveway, mom, you had a whole two minutes to bad mouth him before you came in." She pauses giving her mother a look. "Let's all be amicable now."

Her father laughs coming over to pat my shoulder and give Olivia a small hug.

"Olivia." Her mother calls in a voice so sweet that I'm already steeling myself for the chastising we're about to get for whatever we did wrong. "Why is your hair wet?"

Her eyes slide over to me, blatantly calling me out as the trouble maker.

"Mom, I just got out of the shower when Fitz got here." She pauses briefly, no doubt assessing whether she should add more to the story. "And he and I are going out so I put on more clothes instead of pajamas."

Her mother is looking at me like I'm the devil and it makes me wonder if she could possibly know that I defiled her sweet daughter in every way I possibly could in the allotted 20 minutes.

"Joan," Liv's father spoke from the kitchen. "Let'em go. It's 9 o'clock and Livi needs to be home by 12. You can talk about this later."

"Thank you, daddy." Olivia spoke up immediately. "We're just going to go."

She grabs my hand and her leather jacket, which hung on the end of the banister, and practically drags me out of the house and to my car. By the time she's settled into the passenger seat my brain has finally caught up with what has happened and I grin at her through the dark. Starting the car, I turn to look at her.

"Are you going to say anything or are you going to sit over there and smirk all night." She playfully chides me.

I laugh softly at her. If there's one thing that I've learned about Olivia Pope it's that she doesn't like not knowing, which is ironic considering how private and secretive she is in general.

"I was just going to say I don't know how your poor mother is going to handle it when I knock you up." Liv rolls her eyes at that. "She must think you're the Virgin Mary all sweet and pure."

She laughs loudly. The type of laughter that fills my soul and makes me love her ten times more.

"She doesn't think I'm the Virgin Mary…" She pauses turning in her seat to look at me full on. "She does however believe that you're scared enough to never touch me."

I raise my eyebrows at that.

"Never?"

"Well…I guess not never but she probably thinks that you've coerced me into giving you a really bad 'I don't want to touch your penis' blowjob."

I snicker and she sticks her tongue out at me as we pull into my driveway. I've never had a girl be more zealous about a blowjob than Olivia. She's definitely a person that believes that oral sex is one of the most intimate acts that we could perform on each other. She'd given me her virginity and we'd had sex three times before she agreed to let me go down on her and vice versa. Oh, her mother is in for a shock when she finds out the plans that we've made for after graduation.

I get out of the car and quickly move to her side to open her door for her. Her face in glowing in the darkness and her eyes are shining up at me as she takes my hand and guides me into my house. I move in front of her as I go to close the front door, trying to get her up to my room as quickly as possible before my parents see her. I almost succeed too, however, my mother spots us halfway up the stairs and makes it her duty to engage us in conversation.

"Fitz? Is that Olivia?" She yells as she walks into the foyer. "Don't try to hide her from me. You bring that beautiful girl back down here."

Liv smirks at me. She knew exactly what the plan was, to get her in and out without any parental interference.

"Hi, Mrs. Grant." Olivia mutters as my mother pulls her into a hug. "How've you been?"

"Oh, darling, you don't want to hear about me. I want to hear about you. What have you been up to since the last time I saw you?" She looks at me glaring. "Fitzgerald hides you away like his favorite toy."

Olivia laughs at that because she knows that she is my favorite toy. Of course I'm hiding her away because every time I bring her around I seem to lose her to some stupid conversation about how much community service and garden parties my mother can do. My sulking catches her attention.

"Fitz?" She says, chastising me. "Don't just stand there, come back down to the kitchen. I'm sure Livi's hungry."

She turns her attention back to my girlfriend, who politely declining my her invitation, guiding her to the kitchen and rambling on about the dessert that she's prepared. I stand on the stairs for a moment trying to prepare myself for this inevitably long conversation. As I make my way into the kitchen it is dead silent and I'm already regretting bringing her here.

"What did you say to her?" I growl at my father who looks bored with the situation.

"Fitz." My mother says in a shocked tone. "Watch your tone when you speak to your father."

"It's all right. The boy never used manners before, why should he start now?" He speaks from behind his papers.

There's a silence after he speaks and I'm doing everything in my power not to lunge across the island and choke him.

"It's fine." Olivia finally speaks up, touching my arm gently. "It's okay. Your mother was just asking me what my plans were for school and-"

"And I told her that it was ridiculous of you to tell her that you two would be together after graduation. Olivia's a sweet girl but she doesn't factor in to your plans. I figured I would be honest with the girl since you were not." My father interrupted, finally making eye contact with me.

I can see the disappointment on her face as her smile falls. Her hopes are always that one day he'll stop with the nonsensical jabs that he makes at her and the fact that she has to hope for a good outcome with every meeting with my parents, and is often disappointed, just pisses me off.

"I don't know why you would be speaking to Liv at all, dad. You don't know what I have planned." I counter back.

"Fitz, you're running for president and that is all there is to it. Cochran's little girl, what is her name?"

"Mellie, nice girl, that one." My mother chips in.

"Mellie would be the perfect first lady. She comes from the right background, she is smart. You need a girl like her." He finally looks up at me as he pauses. "Olivia Pope just is not a hue that our Republican constituents would appreciate. I know that you are teenage boy and you are only thinking about when's the next time you're going to get laid but you need to think a little farther ahead and that girl can't go that far with you. Have all of the fun and sex you want to now and then after high school you need to buckle down and start thinking about your future."

I look at both of my parents incredulously while my father goes back to his work as if everything he has just said is fine and my mother turns back to the fridge to continue digging for dessert.

"Olivia, let's go." I try to say as calmly as possible but I know that the gruffness in my voice won't go away until my parents are out of my sight.

"Fitz…" She tries bargaining.

One thing that I'll never understand is why my girlfriend puts herself in the line of fire when it comes to my parents. She wants their approval so much that she willingly lets my father tear her down and I don't know who I want to kill more. My father for hurting her or her for being the strongest woman I know and putting up with his crap.

"Let's go, Olivia!" I raise my voice a little more.

She stands slowly, putting her small hand in mine and starts to guide me from the kitchen.

"I hope you guys have a goodnight." She says as we get to the doorway of the kitchen.

My father doesn't even acknowledge that she's spoken, big surprise there, however, my mother looks apologetic and I'm don't know if it's because she feels bad for Liv or if it's because she feels guilty for the way her husband acts. I hope it's the latter. She should feel remorseful for being married to that asshole. I'll never forgive her for not taking up for me. For not taking up for _us_.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Liv asks as I pass up her street.

She's been silent the entire car ride, knowing that I'm fuming and could blow up any second.

"You have plenty of time before you need to be home. Unless you want to go home now…"

"That didn't answer my question, Fitz."

I can tell by the tone in her voice that she is starting to get irritated with me. I sigh in answer.

"The hill. I just need to calm down a little." I finally reply.

Her expression softens as she reaches over to grab my hand and place it in her lap, interlocking our fingers.

As we pull onto the dirt at the top of Signal Hill she let's go of my hand and takes initiative by getting out of the car first. All of L.A. is sitting in front of us like blanket of fireflies as I follow after her, moving to sit on the hood of my car. I pull her under my arm and she rests her body against mine as we watch the twinkling lights in front of us.

"You didn't tell me." She whispers against my chest.

"What are you talking about?"

"The Navy. You didn't tell me that you were thinking about going." She pulls my face towards hers. "What happened to our plans, Fitz? You said Harvard or Yale. _That_ was the plan. We graduate, we go to school, we have a life_ together._ Why the hell did I have to find out that you were thinking about going to the Navy from your father?"

"Liv-"

"No." She says firmly. "_Don't_ try to pacify me. Just tell me the truth."

I sigh before looking out at the landscape ahead of us.

"I just…you know…the more my father talks about the Navy the more I don't want to do it…" I pause to gage her reaction. "but I went to the recruitment office a few weeks ago and I love it, Liv. It's so much more than a political move."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Her voice is small as she speaks and I can hear the hurt in her voice.

"The plan was for us to get out of here _together_." I answer as honestly as I can.

I see her nod in the near darkness and she opens her mouth to speak before closing it again, so I rub my hand up her arm to comfort her.

"Liv…" I start.

"It's time for me to go home." She speaks softly, sliding off the car and making her way to the passenger door.

I follow her lead, opening her door, and we make it to her house after a car ride of silence. After, what seems like an long walk, we make it to her front door and I'm at a complete loss for words. I still don't know if she's angry or sad or confused or all three.

"I don't want you to make a decision about your future based on me." She finally speaks up. "We had plans but plans change."

She pauses to play with the thin gold ring that rests on her index finger.

"You could always go to the Navy and we could be together afterwards. It's not like you can't write while doing basic training. We would be apart longer than we're used to but we could make it work." She looks up after making intense eye contact with the ground. "If you wanted to, we could make this work."

I nod at her, promising to think about it. I kiss her forehead softly and open her front door for her. She smiles and turns to go inside without another word.

"I love you, Olivia Pope."

_I know _is her only response before the door slams shut. I take that as my cue to vacate the premises before her mother tries to have me arrested and I head straight home to what looks like utter commotion.

There are flashing lights everywhere and the only familiar face that I can find are those of my little sisters' who's hair is tousled on top of their heads as they stand in their footie pajamas. Once I neared high school my mother started nesting. I had just met Olivia and had friends and all she could think was that her time had passed so my father, wanting to get her out of his hair, grudgingly agreed to have another child. Thanks to Invitro it became two children. Twin four year old girls that now stood alone outside of a house covered in reporters, who surprisingly paid me no mind as I pulled onto the premises. I exited my car and made my way straight to the girls, whom, as soon as they spotted me they took off running. All I heard was a chorus of unanswerable questions:

"Fitz, where were you?"

"Can we go back inside now?"

"What's happening?"

"Is somebody going to jail?"

"Be quiet." I finally said after a few seconds of their yelling.

I turned to Cassie.

"Where is Mina?"

I figured my first question should where is the woman that takes care of them? My mother wanted another child but that didn't mean she necessarily wanted to take care of another child. Annie ends up speaking for her.

"Mina's with daddy." She says around the thumb in her mouth. "They told us to stand here 'til they got back."

I realize that I'm not going to get much out of them if they were moved out of the way of the action so I turn on the heat in my car and lock them inside before going to find my father.

"Dad!" I yell, flagging him down. "What the hell is going on? Why are Cass and Annie outside?"

"We're about to do a broadcast and Wilhelmina is helping the camera crew set up. Cassidy and Aniston won't be in the way outside." He replies, nonchalantly fixing his tie.

"Dad, it's cold outside."

"Fitzgerald don't overreact, it's California, they're fine. I'm about to go live so if you're just going to be in the way you can go join them. I know how antsy you are." He starts to walk away from me as he finishes his sentence. "Don't go far, though, they might want you to say a few words."

I have no idea what he's talking about but at the moment I don't really care, I'm just really angry that my house has been overtaken by reporters and police for no reason. I find my way to my car through the plethora of people that seem to have taken residence in my home and I get in with twins.

"Libia's here, Fitz." Cassie speaks up when I get in.

"Who?" I ask.

"Libia. Your girlfriend." Annie answers.

"Yeah, we just sawed her."

I laugh at their pronunciation. They love Olivia but because of my parents they don't get to see her as often as they would like albeit I can't fathom a reason why she'd be here right after I've dropped her off so I start looking around for her without leaving the car. What I do know is that it is past her curfew and although her father likes me, he doesn't like me that much. I see a blur run in front of my car and suddenly my door is being yanked open and my beautiful girlfriend is sitting in my passenger seat.

"Liv, what are doing here?"

She opens her mouth to speak but is interrupted by Cassie.

"Hi, Libia!"

She smiles gently at both girls before kissing their heads and whispering a soft hello. Her smile catches me off guard. It's not the smile that I'm used to. It's a sympathetic smile. What did she have to be sympathetic about? Breaking up with me? Was the Navy thing_ that_ big of a deal?

"Fitz." Her voice brings me out of my reverie. "Can we get out of the car for a second?"

I nod at her and we both quickly find ourselves embracing at the hood of the car where she, quite unreasonably, burst into tears.

"Livi? What's wrong, baby?" I ask, trying to soothe her and wipe away her tears.

She shakes her head.

"Are you alright? I'm just sorry that it happened like this. The girls are still so young and you're graduating and there's just so much-"

"What are you talking about? So much what, Liv? I'm fine, calm down."

I see a look of panic come over her face as I interrupt her.

"You don't know." She states matter-of-factly. "No one's told you."

My confusion rises as she stands in front of me and refuses to give me answers.

"I knew your dad would be busy but I figured someone would have told you." She pauses briefly, stalling. "Plus…it's all over the news…"

"Spit it out Olivia." I'm getting more and more agitated the longer that she drags it out.

She's silent for a moment and I have no idea that the decision spawned from this next statement will change my life forever.

"She died, Fitz. Your mom died."

And the contents of my stomach end up on the front hood of my car.

* * *

**I got the inspiration for this story a long time ago and I just found it on my computer so I thought I would share. I love the movie The Family Man which has Nicholas Cage and Tea Leoni in it and if you've never seen it, you're missing out. But that's basically what this story is "modeled" after. It won't follow the storyline of the movie but it has the same concept so if you_ have_ seen it, you still won't know the ending :-p**

**So tell if I should continue or if I should just step away from the computer indefinitely or anything.**


	2. The Business of Misery

_**17 years later**_

I slowly peel my eyes open as the sun hits my face.

"What's happening?" I'm still incredibly groggy from sleep but I can feel that something's not right. "What's happening?"

"It's almost nine. I called Mrs. Hanley and told her to cancel your morning schedule. I figured you could sleep in today." I hear the most annoying voice in the world shout from across the room. "You should really stop drinking so much, Fitzgerald. Staying up at night drinking isn't going to keep your mind clear."

By the time she's finished I've already hopped out of bed and started removing my clothes.

"You thought I could _sleep _in?! I had a video conference about hunger in the developing world with Nelson Mandela!" I'm furious with the way my morning has started out already and it's not even ten o'clock. "Mandela got out of bed and _I _slept in. I am the leader of the free world I _do not sleep in_."

I'm running around the room throwing on various clothing items as I speak, trying to resist the urge to kill her when Karen bursts into the room.

"Good morning, Daddy!" She giggles as she runs straight for me.

I see Mellie smirk as I bend down to quickly hug my daughter before I continue to get dressed. She knows that I won't yell if Karen's in the room but as soon as I get her alone my hands might end up around her neck.

"Karen, tell Daddy that he needs his sleep if he wants to be a good president."

The glare that I send her way is murderous.

"Daddy!" Karen admonishes, jumping onto the bed in order to move out of my way. "People die if they don't get enough sleep."

"I know, Princess." I say, kissing the top of her head.

Mellie starts speaking again but I promptly tune her out and head straight for the bathroom where I close and lock the door. How the hell did I end up here?

* * *

"Mr. President?"

I keep my face in my hands, doing the best I can to ignore the voice.

"Mr. President." The voice gets closer. "It's not even noon yet and you've already got the alcohol out."

The footsteps pause.

"I'm not judging." This time the it's right in front of my desk.

"Cyrus," My voice is low and gruff as I speak. "I hate my life."

I finally sit up straight to look at him. He turns his head to the side and stares at me for a moment.

"You _are_ married to Mellie so no surprise there."

"Thank you for the words of encouragement. Really, they mean a lot."

"Well, I have something for you that might make you feel better."

I look up in surprise.

"Cyrus Beene, queen of mean, brought me a present?"

He rolls his eyes and waves away my comment.

"A woman called me today-"

"That must have been shocking. Have you ever liked women?"

The face that he makes in response is priceless.

"A woman called me today," He starts again, handing me a sheet of paper. "says she has a couple of things to give you."

I unfold the small memo paper and quickly devour the hieroglyphics. I'm definitely not expecting the name that is jotted down. Olivia Pope. Her number is written very clearly underneath her name and I'm taken aback by the wind that has suddenly left my chest. Why now? Why after almost 20 years would she decide to contact me. I'm hit by things that I thought were long forgotten. _Her smell_._ Her voice. Her skin_. Things I thought were eradicated from my memory so long ago that I almost want to cry at the thought of the memories that have yet to surface into my conscious state. I hastily pick up my drink and down the rest of it with speed, ignoring the strange expression on Cyrus' face, and pour another which will meet the same fate as the previous.

"What did she say?" My voice is scratchy when it comes out.

Cyrus has a worried expression on his face. He is dissecting my every move and I'm suddenly self-conscious of what I've given away by far. The silence stretches out as he contemplates what he should tell me or not.

"An assistant called, I believe she was an assistant, and said that Ms. Pope has box of your things that she would like to give to you." He continues to gauge my emotions as he speaks. "I did my ground work, though. Olivia Pope is purer than Mother Theresa. She beautiful, smart, runs Olivia Pope and Associates in the business of crisis management, which, by the way, is surprising that we've never met. Anyone that's anybody has been to Olivia Pope. I figured if she wanted to put a bomb in a box to kill you, she would go a different route instead of something that's traceable and public, so I'm giving you her information."

He stares at me after he finishes and hands me a manila folder.

"Do you want me to handle it, sir?" He asks slowly, as if talking to a child.

I take a moment to consider my options. I could let Cyrus handle it and if what she really wanted was to see me then I'll be able to see her again on my own terms. It _is _getting close to Christmas and this is the time of year that exes like to show up depressed and lonely, looking for a second chance. Liv was never the vulnerable type, though. What would possess her to suddenly want to give me anything.

"Mr. President?" Cyrus brings me out of my thoughts once more. "Would you like me to handle the Olivia Pope, situation?"

I open the folder and the first thing in it is a beautiful picture of her. More beautiful than I could have ever imagined her to be. Her skin is the most amazing shade of modoré, letting me know that it was probably summer when the photo was taken because it's the color of sun-kissed honey and definitely not as light as it gets in the winter. The top part of her black hair is pulled back and her bangs are pulled to the right, covering a small part of her face and her gorgeous brown eyes are peeking out from under them, staring right into my soul. Her face is smooth and I can tell that she never got acne in college like she always feared. I can't stop staring and I'm almost afraid that I might start stroking the picture itself.

"_I love your skin."_

_She giggles softly into my chest, blowing air across my underdeveloped chest._

"_Why?" She teases._

"_It's smooth…even…stunning just like the woman that wears it."_

_She laughs again._

"_You forgot to say 'brown'."_

"_Olivia." I gasp at her._

"_Don't lie, Fitzgerald Grant, you would die without a little swirl in your life."_

_I throw my head back in laughter at her little phrase. Race is something that we rarely talk about but whenever it's brought up she ignores whatever it is, joking about it until I know that she's not hurt by whatever comment has been made._

"_Olivia Pope! I love your skin, not only because it is brown, but because I could spend the rest of my life doing just this." I can feel her smile into me as I rub my thumb across her petal soft cheek._

_She's silent for a moment, breathing me in and listening to my heartbeat. She starts to softly run her fingers over my rib cage with the rhythm of my heart, caressing slowly and softly._

"_My mother had terrible acne in college." She finally says._

_I look down at her in shock._

"_What?"_

"_In high school," She starts. "her skin was perfect. She didn't have one pimple as a teenager. I mean like…the most flawless skin you've ever seen and then when she got to college she was running around so much in different clubs and organizations and stuff like that that she got terrible acne from the stress."_

_I'm sure my face is showing the level of disgust that I am feeling._

"_Liv, what would make you think that I want to talk about you mother's acne in university with you lying on top of me naked?"_

_She giggles again and then looks up at me seriously._

"_Would you still love me and my skin if I had huge oozing craters on my face?"_

"_Can you stop with the graphics, Olivia, please?"_

"_I'm serious. I'm deathly of afraid of bad skin."_

_I shoot her another look and she laughs again, tucking her head into my chest. After a moment of silence, I speak._

"_I would still love you. Even if your face looked like a pizza. I'd still love you." I whisper while brushing her hair back from her face._

"_More than all the words in all the books?"_

"_In the _entire _world."_

_She smiles at that._

"_You would have to stop touching my face, y'know. Acne and finger oils_ do not_ mix."_

"_Yes, Olivia."_

_So, heeding her instructions, I kiss her head softly and silently promise her forever. With or without acne._

"I will just take care of this, Mr. President. You seem a little out of it today." Cyrus says, bringing me back from the past.

"No, it's fine. I'll handle it. Consider it handled."

He looks at me skeptically and goes to open his mouth to speak; however, he doesn't get the chance to before my assistant walks in.

"Mr. President, it's time for your briefing with the director of the CIA." She announces while walking to hand me my suit jacket.

I slide into my jacket and make my way to the door of my office before turning back to look at a befuddled Cyrus.

"It's fine, Cy. Don't stress so much."

He raises his eyebrows at my last remark.

"If you say so, sir. Olivia Pope is all yours."

I pause for a moment taking in his statement but I keep going and push it from my mind because it made me more excited than it should have.

* * *

"You know, one day I'm going to have a heart attack from all of this greasy food that you have me eating."

Karen giggles at my dramatics.

"Oh, Daddy, you'll be fine. You're not _that _old." She says stuffing a cheese stick in her mouth.

Since she's on Christmas break I make sure to schedule 3 hours a day with her around dinner time, letting her pick what's for dinner and our afternoon activity. Tonight it's cheese sticks, pizza, french fries and chicken fingers, so basically anything that could give her high blood pressure before she's six.

"I'm not _that_ old? That's treason, you know. I am the president and I could have you taken to jail for calling me old." I joke with her.

"Nu uh, Daddy, 'cause I'm only four." She emphasizes by holding up four fingers.

"Well what would this four year old like for Christmas? I don't think you've told me yet."

Karen's eyes immediately float to the Elf on the Shelf which is perched on a tier of the chandelier.

"You've been good, right?" I ask, tilting my head to the side. "The Elf only comes back if you've been a really good girl."

Karen nods slowly.

"What's the problem, Sweetheart?" I try again.

"I don't think Santa can get me the present I want." She says softly.

I wasn't expecting that. Not to brag or anything but I am the President of the United States. I could probably get her a country if that's what she wanted.

"Karen, what won't he bring you?"

She hesitates and stuffs more food into her mouth to avoid speaking.

"Karen."

"A new baby." She finally says.

I'm taken aback once more. I guess I shouldn't be because she's at the age where children want siblings but I figured when she started that phase that she would come to me or Mellie, not Santa. To be honest, I was thinking about adding to our family as well. I have never been able to tolerate much of Mellie but when we had Karen it was so much easier to forget how much I abhorred her. Plus, I want a son. Someone to pass my name down to.

"Well I guess I'll have to talk to Santa and Mommy-"

"Talk to Mommy about what?" Mellie interrupts in an almost malicious tone.

Karen looks down, hiding her face behind her hair.

"You know what, Kare? I'm feeling a movie tonight. Do you mind going down to the theater and setting up a movie for us to watch?"

She shakes her head quickly and practically runs from the room. Don't get me wrong, Karen's not scared of Mellie but because Mellie has made it perfectly clear that having her was a political move, Karen feels the tension and uses any chance not to converse with her.

"Karen wants a sibling for Christmas. That's what she asked Santa for." I say, finally answering Mellie's question.

"A sibling?" Her voice is filled with disgust. "Another child?"

"Mellie, you know I want a son and it would be good for Karen to have someone to play with. The house is lonely with me always working and you…" I pause briefly. I really have no idea what she does with her time. "…doing whatever you do."

She scoffs in reply.

"You're lucky you got Karen. Don't go asking for more, Fitzgerald. I don't like children. I don't _want_ children." She spouts at me.

"Lower your voice before my daughter hears you." Mellie rolls her eyes as I speak. "I want another child…and what do you know, it might actually help raise my approval ratings which would get me re-elected and you would get to keep your title. Isn't that what you want, Mellie?" I'm as facetious as possible when I speak to her.

"Don't threaten me." She sneers, getting closer to me. "If you want more children, you adopt, find a surrogate, I don't know but don't look at me. I made my sacrifice with the first one."

"Mellie…don't push me on this. I _will _get my son and you _will _be his mother. End of story."

I walk out of the room before she can reply and I can feel the lasers that she's sending through the back of my head. Good thing looks can't kill because I don't know which one of us would be dead first. As I walk into the small home theater, Karen is already wrapped in a blanket with her thumb in her mouth, something that she did when she was tired.

"What are we watching?" I ask, pulling her into my lap.

She giggles softly before tucking her body into mine.

"Mulan. There's singing, Daddy."

"I love Mulan. Great choice." I reply, settling in for some father-daughter time.

* * *

After Mulan, Karen and I went back up for some ice cream and then played a few games before I started getting her ready for bed. God, I going to miss this routine when she gets older. All the more reason for another child.

"Daddy, can we do one more story?" She looks up with a small puppy face. "Please, please, please?"

I'm almost tempted to say yes. Almost.

"I have to get back to the Oval, you know that."

She sulks back into her bed.

"Come on, no pouting."

She slides down into the covers as I tuck her in.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Wasn't that a question?"

She rolls her eyes at me. Two days ago she thought that that joke was funny.

"What is it?"

She pauses, taking time to think through her question.

"Have you ever been in love before?" She asks, staring straight into my eyes.

"Why would you ask that?"

"'Cause you know my teacher is getting married?" I nod in answer. "Well she said she wanted to get married 'cause whenever she was with her new almost husband she was really happy and you're never happy when Mommy is around and when Mr. Ben, he's the almost husband, when he comes to our class to drop off Miss. Aarons' lunch he has sparkly eyes and so does she. You never have sparkly eyes, Daddy."

After rambling on Karen takes a deep breath and then crosses her hands in her lap and stares at me, waiting for an answer. I want to tell her that I love her mother. I want to make her believe in the fairy tale family that I've tried to create but Olivia's number suddenly becomes very heavy in my pocket, begging me to tell the truth. If anything it makes me want to get back to my office sooner to call her.

"I was in love a very _very _long time ago."

"Before you met Mommy?" She asks, tilting her head to the side.

I nod my head in answer.

"Way before I met Mommy."

She tilts her head a little more turning my answer over in her mind.

"What was her name?" She asks inquisitively.

Should I answer her truthfully? She _is_ four and could let this slip at any moment and all I needed was for Mellie or, God forbid, Cyrus to hear. Tonight has been full of truths, though, so I continue the theme of the night by answering her question as truthfully as I can.

"Her name was Olivia. Olivia Carolyn Pope. She was beautiful, too. The most beautiful woman I've seen…next to you probably."

She smiles at that and nods her head.

"Why didn't you marry her, Daddy? Then she could be my mommy."

I smile at the thought of children with Olivia.

"I don't know, Princess. Sometimes boys make really stupid decisions and it doesn't always work out like a fairy tale."

She nods, pretending to understand and then leans up to kiss my cheek.

"Maybe one day soon it will be a fairy tale." She says, turning back into her bed to face away from me.

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, choosing to ignore her strange statement.

"Goodnight, Princess, I love you." I say, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

I turn off her lights and make my way to the Oval with only Karen's strange words on my mind and Olivia. As I make it to my office I immediately pour myself a drink before I settle myself in the large chair behind the desk. I pick up the phone and hold it to my ear, hesitating. I've never been nervous when it comes to Liv but it's been so many years that I have no idea what to expect. I quickly pull the file with her picture in it out and as soon as I see her picture my heart rate slows down, calming me enough to dial the number that I memorized moments after it reached my hands. The phone rings a few times before I get an answer and her voice takes me off guard. I guess I wasn't prepared for her to actually answer the phone.

"What?"

I pause, not knowing what to say.

"Hello?" Her voice comes across the line irritated.

"Hi." I answer softly and the gasp that fills my ear lets me know that she knows exactly who I am.

The other end is silent so I know that she's silenced everything in the background.

"Hello? Olivia?" I question, willing her to speak again.

"Hi." She answers after a long silence.

"Hi."

"Hi." I can hear the smile in her voice as she speaks.

"Hello." It's silent again after I speak and I know that I should start talking before she hangs up. "You called for me."

I can hear her shift before she answers my question.

"One of my employees, actually." Her voice is soft when she speaks and I'm elated that she's even speaking to me.

"Oh."

There's another long silence but none of them are necessarily awkward. They're just moments for us to soak up each other.

"I have something for you but I didn't know if I'd be able to have someone bring it to you so I thought going through Cyrus was my safest bet."

"Yeah…Cyrus was a good bet."

I hear someone call her name in the background and I can hear her cover the phone before yelling that she'd be there in a moment.

"Mr. President…" She says into the phone and I can tell that she's pausing to think over what she's just called me. "Is there a reason you called?"

Is there a reason that I called. Did I really want to talk about what she needed to give me or did I call for a little more?

"No, no, that was all."

She sighs in response and we're silent again, listening to each other's breathing.

"Goodnight, Mr. President."

And that alone leaves the biggest smile on my face.

"Goodnight, Olivia."

There's small hesitation and then the phone slams down on a receiver and I already know that the bottle of alcohol in front of me is going to be gone before I get into bed tonight.

* * *

I get into the Oval early the next morning, making up for being late the day before and as soon as I settle myself behind the desk Cyrus walks in with a cardboard moving box.

"Good morning, Mr. President!" He bellows making his way to the nearest couch with the box.

"Someone's in a good mood."

"Well, Olivia Pope is brilliant. I spent the entire morning with her going over strategy for your next campaign and some scandals that have been getting out of hand lately." He pauses to shake his head. "Like I said, brilliant."

"You met her?"

"Yeah. I needed to see whose junk I was giving to you and Olivia Pope…I can't say enough about her. She came this morning just to drop this stuff off and we started talking and then all of sudden we were out having breakfast and talking politics." He trails off in thought. "Anyway, sir, here's the stuff that she needed me to get to you. Do you want me to have someone put it in the residence?"

I'm staring at the box, debating whether I should open the box now or later when his words catch up with me.

"Liv, was in the White House?"

"Liv? Since when are you on a personal, nickname bases with Olivia Pope?" He asks suspiciously.

"You didn't answer my question, Cy."

"Of course she was here. I couldn't risk being kidnapped for ransom so I figured if she brought it here at least there would be witnesses."

I laughed at that.

"Why didn't you come and get me or bring her up here?"

"I offered but she was adamant about letting you work." He chuckles under his breath. "Did I mention that she is brilliant?"

Honestly, I'm getting tired of him talking about Olivia like he knows anything about her.

"Yes, you did." I say shortly, still debating about what to do with the box.

"If I liked women, Olivia and I-"

"Cyrus, I'm actually working." I snap, cutting him off. "And you can have that put in the residence. Thank you."

Cyrus gives me a strange look.

"Of course, Mr. President.

As soon as he exits and closes the door I am on my feet making my way to the large bottle of liquor teasing me from across the room.

"Karen, it's time for bed." I say for what feels like the hundredth time tonight. "Stop jumping around and get in the bed."

She flops down onto the bed and finally pulls the covers over her.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Princess?"

"Did you have a good day?"

I tilt my head in wonder. Why would she ask me that? I've actually had a pretty good day knowing that Olivia's box was waiting for me tonight.

"My day went pretty well, actually."

She nods and rests her head on her pillow, readying herself for sleep.

"Just don't forget what I told you, Daddy."

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"You have to remember Olivia. She's the key to everything." She says resting her hand on my face before she turns to face the opposite direction and promptly falls asleep.

Even further confused, I lean down to kiss her forehead and make my way to my bedroom. Mellie's not there when I enter and I can't help but thank God for that small miracle. The last thing I need is for her to hover while I look through the things that Olivia has sent. The box is placed on one of the small benches in the closet and I have to pause to keep myself from tearing into it immediately. I grab a bottle of scotch that I keep stashed by my suits and take a swig before I move to sit on the floor where I've moved the box. When I open it I'm instantly struck by her smell, like she's kept these items in her drawers or closet instead of in a storage unit where people keep the things of their past. I can't help but wish that she had kept them close to her. Pilfering through the box, it looks like old notes and gifts that I had given her, nothing significant but at the bottom I see something catch the light so I push everything out of the way where I find the gold ring that I bought her wrapped in my old Navy sweatshirt. The ring is on my mother's chain along with my grandmother's ring. My mother wore it every day and when she died I wanted a part of her with us at all times. Olivia cried when I gave it to her. I pick up the sweatshirt and hold it to my nose. It smells like us. Like she's worn it to keep my scent close to her. Like she hasn't washed it since I gave it to her seventeen years ago. I take a few more gulps from the bottle sitting next to me and I'm overwhelmed with thoughts of our past.

"_I told you that you didn't have to get me anything, Fitz."_

"_I know but I think that you'll like this gift."_

_She smiles softly and opens the small gift box. As she takes the lid off I devour every emotion that crosses her face, looking for any sign of happiness. She takes out the sweatshirt and holds it up to me._

"_This is _way _too big for me." She says with a little attitude._

"_I know. That's because it's mine."_

_She looks even more confused now with her eyes squinting together and her head tilted slightly._

"_My present is _your _sweatshirt?"_

_I laugh at the disappointment on her face._

"_Smell it."_

_She gives me a befuddled look but complies with my request and smells the sweatshirt. A large smile comes over her face and before she buries her head in it. She looks up at me after a minute with tears in her eyes._

"_So I can sleep." She says, nodding her head with understanding._

"_So you can sleep." I confirm. "I wore it every night to bed and I even sprayed some of my cologne on there so you should be set for a while."_

_She laughs softly at that._

"_I don't want you to go, Fitz." She whispers to me, looking up through her long eyelashes. "The six weeks you were in basic was hell. I wish you didn't have to go back."_

_I nod, kissing her softly._

"_Before you know it I'll be back and we'll be together." I assure her._

_Her hands immediately go to the chain on her neck holding the promise of our future right above her heart._

"_Just promise me that you're coming back."_

"_Olivia," I tilt her head to look directly at me. "I'm coming back. I promise."_

I'm in tears thinking about the very last promise that I made. The one promise that I broke. The promise that, if I could do it all over, I would have kept. I finish off the bottle sitting next me as keep my head as far into the sweatshirt as possible. Soaking up the very essence of her scent. My own words are haunting me as I sit here alone.

_I'm coming back. I promise._

I've never wanted to be put out of my misery more. My chest is aching at the thought of her and all of the promises that I broke.

_More than all the words in all the books?_

Her voice came back, haunting me. I just needed a do over. I just needed to go back and make everything right. Just one more chance.

_I'm coming back. I promise._

And then the world goes black.

* * *

**So I've updated, finally! Thank you so much for your reviews! I really, really, really appreciate and enjoy reading them. **

**Many of you were concerned about Fitz' dad and the actions of his character but we're going to get that backstory (hopefully...I'm still not completely sure where I'm going with this beyond the next few chapters) and the affects that it's had on Fitz. Even if something seems irrelevant to the chapter, just remember that it was brought up for a reason. Something is going to happen or be said or whatever that will make everything make sense (again hopefully).**

**Tell me what you think by clicking the very appealing review button below!**


	3. The Best Thing I Never Had

I wake up to small fingers trying to pry my eyelids open and I know that Karen's awake. Shame washes over me as I think of the position she's found me, passed out next to a bottle of liquor with tear stains decorating my cheeks.

"Daddy?" She whispers right in to my ear. "Are you awake?"

I nod slowly, waiting for the ever present rum induced nausea to settle in.

"You gotta get up. Momma says we're opening presents now."

I sit up slowly while cradling her body to mine, realizing quickly that I'm in a bed that is not mine. I take in my surroundings, recognizing that not only am I not in my own bed but that I am also not in my room.

"Karen," She looks up at me with the biggest smile on her face. "Where are we?"

Her eyebrows immediately turn inwards.

"We're at home, Daddy." She says with her head tilted to the left in confusion. "And breakfast is almost ready."

She jumps up from the bed and runs from the room before I can question her any further so I climb out of bed, rapidly throwing on garments that look like they belong to me. A Navy shirt, fitted sweat pants, and gyms shoes. I rush out of the room and down a small staircase to an epicenter of commotion. The landing of the stairs leaves me standing in a grandiose kitchen where someone is holding a crying baby, Olivia Pope is organizing breakfast platters, and my daughter is nowhere to be seen. Just as I turn to hightail back up the stairs Olivia turns to me.

"Don't even think about. It's almost seven and the girls want to open presents." She pauses to look me up and down. "Well, at least you're somewhat dressed. You know that people are coming over for breakfast, right. Don't you want to put on something a little more…festive?"

All I can do is stare. There's too much happening. There's a baby screaming. My ex is standing in front of me talking about a breakfast party. I have no idea where I am. All rational has been lost. I walk right past her, ignoring my name being called, and out of the front door, picking up a set of keys that are hanging on a hook below my name. I hear someone questioning me from the door but I jump in to the car that is chirping from the remote and peel out of the driveway as soon as possible. I vaguely know my surroundings so I make my way towards LAX. I need to go home.

* * *

I'm sitting at a small café near the White House wallowing in self-pity. I had a four hour flight to realize how flawed my plan was. Leaving my daughter with people that I hadn't seen in decades, expecting to stroll in to the White House that apparently someone else was in control of. I have no idea what's going on but I do know that trying to push my way in to the Oval is not going to do anything but get me arrested. Samuel Reston is president. I never thought that I would say that in my life. Politically, everything is as it would be if I had never ran. Personally, I have no idea what the hell is going on.

"Mr. Grant?"

I look up surprised that anyone here would recognize me and, moving to take a seat across from me, is none other than Tom, my old secret service agent.

"I thought I might find you here." He says with a wiry smile.

"Excuse me?" I'm more confused than I was a minute ago and I didn't think that that was possible. "You thought you might find me _here_? In D.C.?"

"C'mon. My car is running around the block. If we're going to talk we should have some privacy."

I follow him without hesitation. If there is anyone that I should trust it would be the one person who's job description was to protect me at all cost. After I am settled in to the front seat of his car, he turns on the heat and begins driving a familiar circle route that we often took when I was president. If I needed to clear my mind or wait for an okay on a location, this was the route that we took. I look at him expectantly, waiting impatiently for him to begin explaining. When he fails to speak I assume that it's all on me.

"Tom…" I pause to give him an opportunity to speak. "What the hell is going on? I fell asleep last night in the White House as president and I woke up this morning in Toluca Lake as…God, I wish I knew what I was."

"You just have to take it day by day." He replies with a small smile on his face.

I'm either going to kill him or myself.

"What do you mean take it day by day?!" I'm nearing hysteria at his nonchalant answer. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"You're experiencing a glimpse."

"A glimpse of what, Tom?"

"That's what you have to figure out." He looks around before pulling in to a park and leave spot at the airport that I didn't realize we had entered. "Go home. It'll hit you."

I'm going to lose my mind.

"Need I remind you that my home is under someone else's control right now?!"

He laughs softly and ignores me.

"You have a flight booked back to Los Angeles that leaves in forty-five minutes. Go _home_. You had a hint that you are conveniently ignoring." He checks his watch. "It's Christmas. Go be with your family. You have time to figure it out."

"Time? _Time?_ Time!I'm in the middle of passing a huge bill! What kind of time are we talking about?"

"Fitz, you'll be fine. Once you get it everything will be okay. My job is to make sure that your life turns out the way that it was supposed to, that you end up with the people that you're supposed to. I guess you could call me a professional shipper." He chuckles under his breath and checks his watch again. "If you don't leave now we're going to be in some big trouble."

He reaches in to his coat and hands me a plane ticket but I'm almost certain that he's lost all of his marbles. What the hell is a shipper?

"Good luck, man. I'll see you on the other side."

I get out of the car and he speedily pulls off, leaving me alone with no answers once again. Thanks for the help, Tom.

* * *

I'm lost.

Not just metaphorically like I have been all day but also physically. In the moment of my hasty exit I hadn't thought to remember where the house was so I pulled over at some corner and started walking, hoping that someone could give me directions.

"Excuse me? Sir!" I interrupt a couple climbing out of their car, making their way in to what I presume is their house. "Can you tell me how to get to Linden Avenue?"

He laughs and turns toward his female companion.

"Well I'll be damned." He cackles. "Abby, look what the cat drug in."

The redhead rolls her eyes and continues in to the house without paying me a single thought. The man walks towards me and grabs my shoulder, pulling me towards the entrance of the house.

"I figured that you would be by here sometime today. Liv called earlier, worried sick." His accent is strong as he speaks, prompting me to flip through my mental rolodex of companions.

I follow him, without much choice since he's practically dragging me along. We enter and he pulls me in to a back room with a mini bar and pours me a stiff drink. This side trip might work out for me.

"What's going on, man?" He questions, motioning for me to sit down. "You take off Christmas morning, not a word to anyone about where you're going…"

He trails off waiting for me to take up for myself. I use this opportunity to look around. There is a picture of the two of us in golf club regalia smiling brightly which takes me off guard.

"We're friends?" I ask, still dazed by the fact that I'm in a strangers house.

"Of course." He nods emphatically, misunderstanding the tone of my question. "You can tell me anything. What's the problem?"

"I'm having a bad day."

That's really the understatement of the century. He looks like he's thinking it over, though.

"Well it's not Olivia, is it?"

A light suddenly cuts on in my head.

"Olivia is my wife." It comes out almost like a question.

The only response I get is laughter.

"You keep saying that. Make it a personal mantra of some sort." He stops talking to laugh some more. "Man, I can't imagine what your life must be like sometimes. I mean all I do is work with her and sometimes I want to kill myself."

He takes in my face before continuing.

"I'm sorry that's not what you want to hear. Look, Fitz, remember last year when I almost had that thing with my client? Remember what you said?" He looks at me expectantly before continuing. "You said don't screw up the best thing that's ever happened to you because you're a little unsure of yourself."

I nod my head slowly, trying to appear attentive.

"Think of it this way, at least you only have two kids in the house now." His laughter punctuates his statement.

With that I'm being ushered in to a car and dropped three houses down from where I left mine. Apparently I wasn't far from "home" at all. As I slowly unlock the door I'm praying to every deity in the world that everyone is sleeping. After locking the front door I try to slowly make my way to the kitchen when a body comes flying at me from the living room. What I wasn't expecting after that was the harsh slap that would follow.

"What the hell wrong with you?" Olivia yells as she moves to turn on the light. "You left a seven o'clock this morning without a single word about where you were going or when you were coming back. It's almost midnight Fitz. I called _all _of our friends, the police, the hospital…"

She stops to take me in.

"Where were you?"

I take a minute to think what the best answer to this question might be.

"Fitz! Where were you?" The annoyance in her voice is seeping through every word.

"I was in D.C."

She takes a step back and I can tell that she's about to explode. It's crazy how even after all of these years I can still read her like a personal bible.

"As in _Washington_, D.C.?" She's too quiet and calm as she speaks.

The kind of quiet that lets me know that there is no way that this will not end in a fight. I nod slowly, my head bowed in shame.

"You flew to Washington, D.C. ON CHRISTMAS?!" She moves closer as she speaks. "What were you doing, Fitz? What was so important that you had to fly across the country on _Christmas_?"

"See…here's the thing," I pause, searching for a way to proceed. "This isn't my house."

She rolls her eyes and walks away, leading us in to the kitchen.

"I'm serious. This isn't my house. You aren't my wife." I continue.

"That's not funny anymore, Fitz, and-" She stops suddenly, staring behind me.

"Daddy, I was waiting for you to come and tuck me in." Karen says in a small voice behind me.

Olivia walks past me and stops on her knees before my daughter.

"Karen, Daddy'll be up in a minute. Why don't you go back to bed and he'll be right there, okay?" Olivia says softly, kissing Karen's head as she brushes her hair behind her ears.

Karen's nod is imperceptible, nonetheless, she turns back the way she came, leaving Olivia and I alone yet again.

I'm expecting more yelling but Olivia moves to sit in one of the kitchen chairs and buries her head in her hands. When she does finally look up at me her eyes are glossy with tears and she looks like she's aged five years in five seconds.

"You spent hours putting together that doll house for her and you weren't even here to see her face when she opened it." She wipes her eyes to prevent from crying and then continues. "You missed _Christmas,_ Fitz."

I stutter a little before I can finally get the words out but when they come she looks relieved.

"I'm sorry."

She nods and makes her way to me, slowly placing her hands on my cheeks, she kisses me softly.

"You're okay, I'm okay…its fine…just let me know when you're going to have a midlife crisis and fly across the country on a holiday so I can be mentally prepared to kick your ass." She looks at me for confirmation so I nod quickly while I'm not in trouble. "Let's go tell Karen goodnight. It's been a full day and she should have been in the bed a long time ago."

I follow her to Karen's room where she leaves me standing outside of the door. I look to her for reassurance, which is crazy because I've practically been a single parent to Karen her entire life and by some weird twist of fate now that Olivia's become part of my life, I suddenly need her encouragement to be with my daughter.

"Tucking her in is your job and you know it. Plus, you missed her entire day so go be a good boy and put her to bed." She continues walking away as she speaks.

I sigh before entering the room with Karen's name blazoned all over the door. The contrast between the room that she's in now and her room in the White House is startling. This one looks like a castle fit for a four year old princess and it instantly makes me feel bad for letting Mellie have all of the say when designing Karen's room. I want to ask how she likes this room in comparison to the other but I have a strong feeling that just like everyone else, she'll have no recollection of us belonging in another world, another life that's a lot less perfect than this one seems to be.

"Hi, Daddy."

"Hi, sweetheart." I move to sit on the edge of her bed. "You ready for bed?"

"Mhm." She says as she nods. "I just missed you today, that's all."

I know she's not guilt tripping me on purpose but those few words still dig a deep whole in my heart.

"I'm sorry, baby girl. I promise to make it up to you." I say tickling her sides to wipe away the sad expression on her face.

"Alright, Karebear, settle down. You're supposed to be getting ready for bed." Olivia's voice comes from the doorway.

I promptly ignore her, wanting time to ask Karen about her day. I'm not sure where I am supposed be but if Olivia was right about anything tonight she was right about the fact that I missed Christmas with my little girl.

"Momma, can you sing me a song?"

That got my attention, my head instantly whipping towards the door to find no one there but Olivia.

"_One_ song and that's it." She says walking to the other side of Karen's bed. "Then you lie down and go to sleep."

Karen nods once and grins, burrowing in to her covers as a sign that she's ready but as soon as Olivia opens her mouth Karen jumps up.

"Wait!"

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

She shakes her head at me.

"Nothing it's just that…" She hesitates glancing down at her lap. "I was hoping that you and Momma could sing together."

She catches me off guard with the moniker again and my face must betray me because she quickly tries to retract her request.

"It's okay if didn't want to I was just wonderin'…" Her voice trails off in a desolated tone.

"No, no…um…I'll sing if, if, Olivia's singing."

Olivia's head snaps up while I'm speaking, a hurt look in her eyes. Did she _not_ want me to sing with her?

"How about a Whole New World?" She asks softly. "That's a good one."

Karen nods excitedly and burrows back in to her covers as we start the duet. I've never felt more like a man with a family in my life.

* * *

Olivia is in the bathroom getting ready to go to sleep while I sit on the edge of the bed contemplating what to do. I'm trying to act as normal as possible but I honestly can't figure out what this glimpse is supposed to be. I hear Olivia clear her throat and I look up at her anxiously.

"You called me Olivia."

I'm sure my face displays my befuddlement.

"That's your name…"

"No, that's not what I meant." She rolls her eyes. "You called me Olivia to Karen. You've never done that before. I've always been her Momma. _Always_."

I take this time to look her over. Her hair is wet and dripping on to her pajamas like a small child, the curls framing her face to create a picture of innocence. She's wearing what looks like my Navy sweatshirt and a pair of leggings and it's hard not to notice the huge ring on her finger. It's not so big that it looks like she's wearing a skating rink on her hand but big enough to match her personality and big enough to say 'Property of Fitzgerald Grant'. It's funny how yesterday I was married to a different woman and I never had thoughts like this. I never thought about marking Mellie, letting people know that she was mine. I spent a majority of our marriage trying to make sure that people knew that I wanted nothing to do with her.

"It's just that," I pause not knowing how she's going to take this. "Mellie is her mother."

I can see how flustered she's becoming. Her cheeks are turning pink like a natural blush. I know immediately that I've said the wrong thing.

"Mellie has _never_ been her mother." She insists vehemently. "_I'm_ the one that woke up to feed her every night. _I'm_ the one that was there for her first word and her first step…her first day of school. _I'm_ the one that's with her when she's sick or having a bad day. _I_ _am_ her mother, Fitz."

I can see how hurt she is but having some kind of back story would have helped me immensely.

"I'm sorry." I feel the inadequacy in the words as they come out but what else I am supposed to say.

She scoffs at me, walking away.

"What the hell is wrong with you today?" The rhetorical question hangs in the air. "You know what, don't answer that. I want you to think long and hard about it tonight on the couch."

* * *

I'm rummaging through the cabinets again, hoping with everything in me that the time before I hadn't looked thoroughly enough and missed any type of alcohol, when a voice startles me.

"It's three o'clock in the morning. Why are you down here making so much noise?"

I turn quickly, trying to identify the voice.

"Annie?"

"Nice try, Cassie, and you _know_ she likes being called Aniston now." An eye roll accompanies her statement. "Apparently that's less juvenile so don't call her Annie to her face or she'll freak out about how she's independent now and doesn't need you treating her like a child."

Cue another eye roll and this time a hair flip. I'm shocked to see how grown up she is. The last memory that I have of my younger sisters is from their sixteenth birthday, five years ago, so having this woman in front of me has knocked the wind out of me.

"Why do you look so shocked to see me?" She asks eyebrows furrowed in sarcasm. "Oh yeah, because _somebody_ skipped Christmas. I'm surprised Libia didn't hand you divorce papers the second you walked in the door. I don't think she enjoyed a single moment with you gone today."

I chuckle under my breath.

"You think it's funny that your wife didn't enjoy Christmas because you tried to be Houdini?" The anger is apparent in her voice.

"No…it's just…" I pause taking in her adult features. "I always thought it was cute when you guys called her 'Libia' when you were younger, you know, because you couldn't pronounce the 'v' and it just…it just reminded me of simpler times. That's all."

She shakes her head with a small smile on her face.

"Can I ask you a serious question?" Her face has sobered up but she looks so much like child again. "And don't say 'wasn't that a question' because not even Karen finds that funny."

I chuckle and give her an affirmative nod.

"Do you ever regret taking me and Anne?"

I'm confused by her question. Does she mean now? Does she mean when they were younger and I took them to the park? Take them when?

"I don't understand what you're asking me."

She sighs heavily before continuing.

"I mean-" She cuts herself off in frustration, running her hands over her face and through her messy curls. "It's just that you and Libby gave up so much. _Especially_ Libby. I mean you just…you just left. You went overseas and then you guys had that huge fight and she still married you so that you'd have a better chance of getting custody of us and then she adopted us in case anything happened to you and I...I just wanted to know if you regretted doing all of that. By the time you were twenty you were married and had custody of two six year old girls. And don't try to pacify me, okay, because I know that we were the reason that you and Libia split up a few years ago and now you guys are fighting again and I know it's not for nothing. So, I was just wondering…do you regret it?"

I ignore her question, partly because I have no idea how to answer it but partly because I'm still trying to sequence all of the information she's just given me.

"Why do you think that we're fighting? We're fine."

She gives me a look that makes me shrink back a little bit. I bet she learned that from Olivia.

"You sleeping on the couch is clue number one. We all know that when you guys aren't sleeping in the same bed that she watches the news and reads and you pace all night." She looks down and begins to mumble. "Plus the last time you started sleeping on the couch Libia moved out and you got someone else pregnant so…"

Her expression catches my attention. Karen is the one puzzle piece that wasn't fitting but Cassie's face tells me that she remembers all too well what must have happened.

_I haven't done this since I was younger. Annie thinks that I'm being childish and nosy but I don't understand why she's not the least bit curious as to why Libby left. Fitz' shouting calls my attention back to what I'm doing. Hiding in a pantry. Mature, right?_

"_How many times do I have to say that I'm sorry?!" His entire face is red as he continues yelling at her. "'Cause I'll say it as many times as you need me to."_

"_Sorry doesn't fix anything, Fitz. You hooked up with Mrs. Perfect to prove something to me and all you did was prove that you're an asshole."_

_Fitz sighs and moves to lean on the counter that is the farthest away from Libia._

"_Why don't you just leave then, huh? You didn't have a problem walking out a month ago, what's the difference now?"_

_She chuckles sorrowfully._

"_I left because I thought we needed space. I didn't leave so that you could become a philandering whore. I thought you would still take in to consideration that I am your wife."_

"_No, you left so you wouldn't feel guilty about messing around with Jake and now you're upset because I slept with Mellie."_

_Libby comes across the kitchen and is in Fitz' face in less than a second._

"_I didn't leave because of Jake. Jake is a nonfactor. Yeah, we had a good time together but at the end of the day one of us came home with some baggage and it wasn't me. Don't try to make that my fault that." _

_Fitz sighs heavily and takes her hands, clearly trying to calm her down._

"_I don't want Mellie." He moves his hand to tilt her chin up towards his face. "I have _never_ wanted Mellie. I've always only wanted you, and don't think I'm trying to blame you because I'm not, but seeing you with Jake just set me off. He's been hitting on you for years but I didn't think that, as my friend, he would ever act on his interest. I can't even tell you how irate it made me seeing touch what's _mine. _So, being with someone I knew that you hated as much as I hated Jake in that moment seemed like the next logical thing for me to do."_

_She shakes her head at his explanation._

"_Yeah, but Fitz, you know me better than that or you should after all of these years. The very first time that we were together I said that I wanted you to be the only man to ever touch me and that didn't change because we were fighting. So, yes, I messed around with Jake but it was never anything serious and it was _never_ going to _be_ anything serious." She moves away from his grip as she finishes, her voice incredibly soft and broken as she speaks again. "Plus, _I_ didn't come home pregnant."_

_Fitz runs his hands over his face and through his hair, sighing in frustration and anger._

"_I don't want her, Liv."_

"_That doesn't change the fact that she's pregnant with your child!" She shouts as fresh tears make their way down her face. "You were supposed to have you first baby with _me. _That's a right that should be reserved for your _wife _not the whore that's hoping that she can cash out and become First Lady."_

_Fitz turns away from her, gripping the counter tightly with his head bowed, as tears begin to run down his face as well. I suddenly feel terrible about snooping. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be hearing this. To see the two of them so vulnerable makes me want to burst in to tears. For all intents and purposes my parents are Fitz and Libby and I never doubted that at my graduation, at my wedding, the birth of my first child, that Libia and Fitz would be there _together_. They have always put on a united front for us. Libia handled meals and our after school entertainment while Fitz helped with homework and extracurriculars. They always put us to bed together. They are our parents. Libia tried her best to help Annie and me when we got our periods and Fitz mustered through "the talk" which ended with a giant hug and a halfhearted warning. I never thought that one day I would look up and Libia wouldn't be here with us. I never thought that one of my parents would leave._

"_I don't want you to be angry," Fitz whispers after drying the tears from his face. "but I asked her to keep it. I know that my first child should have been with you, I know that, but Mellie's pregnant and she's wants an abortion and I won't do that. I can't support that. I just hope that when I bring this baby home in nine months that I'll you to be there with me."_

"_You're asking me to take care of the child that you created with that whore." Her voice is incredulous when she speaks. "You slept with her, got her pregnant and now you want me to play mom?!"_

_Fitz sighs before walking closer to her._

"_I know that I'm asking for a lot. I know. I just…I don't want children with anyone but you and it's a little late to be saying that, I do realize that but, Livi, I don't want anyone but you." He closes the gap between the two of them. "I'm asking you to brush one more thing under the rug and I will spend the rest of my life trying to build you the perfect house around it."_

_Libia sighs and leans forward to rest her head on his chest, nodding slowly._

"_Fitzgerald Grant."_

"_Yes?"_

"_Don't make this the one thing in my life that I regret when I'm eighty."_

"_Livi, I promise."_

_She shakes her head and wipes the tears from both of their faces._

"_Don't make me regret you." She utters once more leaning up to kiss him gently. _

"_I promise." He reaches out to bring her face to his. "More than all the words in all the books in the entire world."_

"So...do you regret it?"

I shake my head at her wistfully.

"Never and don't ever think that we're fighting because of you guys, okay." I lean over the island, pulling her in to a hug. "I wouldn't change it for anything."

She smiles, squeezing me one last time before heading towards the stairs.

"I love you, bro."

"Love you, too, Cassie."

* * *

And then I'm alone again.

It's five a.m. and I haven't gotten a wink of sleep. Really I've just been pilfering through things in the house and analyzing the pictures on the shelves and walls. I just stumbled upon a bookshelf filled with movies and home videos but then there is one in particular that catches my eye so I carefully pull it from the shelf to find the nearest device to play it on. The back den has a VHS player all set up so I pop in the video and make myself comfortable on the couch as I hit play.

"_Alright, man, the camera's on." Jake's voice comes from behind the camera as the view shows nothing but grass._

"_Great, you fixed it half way through the party."_

"_Don't complain. I told you, I'm a Navy man, it was going to get fixed eventually." The camera turns to point towards Jake. "We wouldn't want to miss the beautiful Miss Olivia, now would we?"_

"_That's my wife you're talking about asshole, watch your mouth."_

_The camera turns to focus on Fitz and follows him as he swaggers in to the backyard where a party is full swing. The camera is still as Fitz makes his way to the DJ booth and requests a mic._

"_Um…excuse me, is this thing on?"_

_There's a chorus of laughs and the cacophony of sound is swiftly hushed at the sound of his voice. _

"_I'm looking for Olivia?" His head swivels around until he lays eyes on her across the yard. "Livi…I've been hearing that the reason that we're both here is that one, it's your twenty-fourth birthday but two, because apparently we've been married for five years. I was a little confused when I heard the last one though because I don't even know where I am. I'm sure that this isn't my house and you're not my wife so would you like to explain to me what the hell is going on?"_

_The camera zooms in on Olivia's face as she throws her head back in laughter._

"_No, what I really came up here to say is that I love you Livi Grant, you are grace personified and there is no one in the world that I would rather wake up to every single morning for the rest of my life." He pauses to make his way towards the piano, which had been brought out for entertainment purposes. "Now I have two beautiful little girls who love you almost as much as I do, but they didn't quite make the cut off, and they have a little present for you." _

_He stops so that Cassie and Annie can come from behind the piano to give Olivia two very large bouquets of lilies. Olivia giggles and freely gives each of the girls hugs and kisses. After settling the flowers in her hands they make their way to the piano where they both sit poised to play._

"_And I have a little gift of my own." Fitz adds as the girls start a melody together. _

_As Fitz begins to sing Olivia bows her head however the camera catches the tears glistening on her cheeks as Fitz pulls her in to serenade._

"_I can't imagine life  
without you by my side  
This is love baby that I'm feeling  
and I'm hoping  
that you're feeling the same way  
things tend to slip my mind  
like how you like to wine and dine baby  
with romantic lights you mean a lot to me  
in so many ways  
Lately  
have I told you I love you  
lately  
have I told you you still mean the world to me  
lately  
have I told you I love you  
I'll be your wishing well  
tell me what you want baby"_

"That's probably my favorite tape. You don't sing on camera very often."

Olivia's voice brings me out of the reverie of the tape causing me to pause abruptly and face her.

"I didn't realize you were standing there." I answer quietly.

Instead of commenting she shuffles over to the couch and tucks her body in to mine. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her as close to me as she can possibly get. Her tiny body curling in to mine perfectly.

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

There's no need for me to elaborate. I'm 100 percent positive that she knows exactly what I'm talking about. She responds by trying to fold herself farther in to me, nuzzling her head in to my chest.

"I don't want to talk about it."

I kiss the top of her head. Rubbing her body for comfort.

"I don't want to fight anymore, Fitz. I'm so tired of fighting." She whispers through my shirt.

"No more fighting. I promise."

With that she kisses my chest and before I know it she's asleep and so am I.

* * *

**Finally after 3,000 years there is an update. Since my last update I have had my 18th birthday, graduated from high school, gone on a family vacation, moved 3 times (twice out of state), was on a talk show, and started college so there wasn't much time for writing. I also have four different versions of this chapter written because I had no idea how I wanted this to go which is another reason it's been so long. **

**Anyway, the next chapter shouldn't be too far behind but reviews motivate me to write more *wink wink***


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